Mozambique: Police get new vehicles to patrol against insurgency

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Mozambique: Police get new vehicles to patrol against insurgency

8:06 CAT | 17 Sep 2021

Photo: Facebook PembaOye Intransigente

The commander-general of the Mozambique Police (PRM) today handed over 11 vehicles to the command of Cabo Delgado to reinforce the fight against armed insurgency in the province.

“These vehicles will facilitate the circulation of citizens” and allow “escort cars to arrive safely to where people and their goods should arrive”, said Bernardino Rafael.

He was speaking in Pemba, the provincial capital, during a ceremony to hand over cargo vehicles (known as Mahindra) adapted with seats and tarpaulins to transport police officers, as used in the rest of the country.

The vehicles are intended to patrol districts affected by the conflict along National Road 380, the only tarred road between the north and south of Cabo Delgado and surrounding areas.

Quissanga, Mocímboa da Praia, Palma, Muidumbe and Nangade will benefit from the reinforcement to ensure the normal circulation of people and goods.

“We are all going back,” he said, reiterating the authorities’ call for those displaced by the conflict to return to their places of origin.

“The wealth of Mozambicans is production,” he concluded, calling for the resumption of rural work.

Cabo Delgado is a province rich in natural gas but terrorised since 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.

The conflict has led to more than 3,100 deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project, and more than 817,000 displaced people, according to Mozambican authorities.

Since July, an offensive by government troops with support from Rwanda, later joined by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), made it possible to increase security, recovering several areas where there was rebel presence, including the town of Mocímboa da Praia, which had been occupied since August 2020.

Source: Lusa